Dillon breaks away from Manning in second half to pick up 47-22 victory

 Manning – A fight to the finish appeared to be awaiting Dillon and Manning in their high school football game on Friday at Ramsey Stadium. The teams had traded touchdowns midway through the third quarter with the Wildcats holding a 26-22 lead.

Then, all of a sudden, such thoughts quickly dissipated

The Monarchs muffed a kickoff that DHS recovered and quickly turned into a touchdown. That turned the momentum as the Wildcats went on to a 47-22 victory.

 “You've got to go through some adversity and we faced some in the first half,” said Dillon head coach Kelvin Roller. “I think that will help us later on. when we want to go on a (AAA state) playoff run. The teams just get better each week when that time comes. I'm just proud of the way their effort level, their preparation, their mindset is to play better in the course of the ball game.”

 The victory pretty much wrapped up the Region 7-AAA title for Dillon, which is 7-1 overall and 3-0 in region play. The Wildcats, ranked second in the High School Sports Report AAA Sweet 16 poll, need a win over 3-5 Waccamaw or 0-7 Georgetown in the next two weeks earn the No. 1 seed in the state playoffs.

If Dillon follows through with a region championship, it will be the 14^th in 15 years. The Wildcats have an 18-game region win streak and have won 70 of their last 71 region contests.

“We came out and knew we had to execute more,” said standout running back Jamarion Fling. “ Everybody wasn't doing their assignments in the first half, but we just clicked in the second half.”

 Ninth-ranked Manning suffered its first loss of the season after beginning the year with seven straight victories. The Monarchs are 2-1 in region play.

Dillon held a 19-14 lead at halftime, but MHS received the second-half kickoff. Manning started at its 35-yard line after the Wildcats kicked the ball out of bounds. The Monarchs easily had their best drive of the night, going 65 yards in eight plays.

 The big play was a 34-yard run by quarterback JaRae Mitchell to the DHS 6. Two 3-yard runs by running back Jaylnn Coard later, MHS was in the end zone. Mitchell then threw to wide receiver Jeffrey Ceasar for the 2-point conversion to put Manning up 22-19 with 8:35 left in the third quarter.

 Dillon responded with an 8-play scoring drive of its own, this one good for 67 yards. The big play of the drive was a 32-yard screen pass from quarterback Josiah Oxendine to Fling for a first down at the Monarchs 19. Fling scored from 13 yards away three plays later with 5:18 left in the quarter. An extra point by placekicker Stephen Rojas gave the Wildcats z 26-22 lead.

 DHS chose to kick z high pooch kick this time. Jamari Wilson, who has returned three kicks for scores, tried to come up and catch the ball, but he never possessed it. Dillon recovered the loose football at the Manning 26.

 The Monarch defense held the Wildcats to just four rushing yards on the first two plays to bring up third down and six yards to go. Oxendine connected with wide receiver Zamaurious Robertson, who broke a tackle and reached the end zone. Rojas’ PAT made it 33-22 with 3:12 to go.

 ”You can't make that many mistakes against a good team like that.” said Monarchs head coach Reggie Kennedy, whose team had four turnovers. “You especially can’t do it offensively with the offensive line they've got and that style of play. They just keep mowing you down and get you to tap out pretty much. We kept fighting, but we kept doing too many things wrong over and over again.”

The Wildcats got the ball back with another short field, but not by turnover this time. Manning decided to for a first down on fourth down and one yard to go at its 35. A high snap went shooting in the air off the hands of Mitchell. While he was able to catch it, he went down at the 26.

 Dillon needed seven plays to reach the end zone again, but it did make it. Fling, who rushed for 189 yards on 36 carries, scored his fourth touchdown of the game on fourth and goal from the 2.

         “I had a decent game, but I have to give it up to the O(ffensive) linemen,” Fling said. “They played really well.”

Fling, a senior, came into the game averaging over 153 rushing yards a game. He is now just shy of 1,000 rushing yards on the season with 21 touchdowns.

         “Those guys up front they battled tonight and they faced a good crowd tonight,” Roller said. “As far as Jamarion goes, he runs hard, he's an exceptional athlete . Whatever position we play him at, he's going to excel. He's just that good of an athlete. I'm glad he's on our team, and I'm glad those guys up front are on our team as well.”

         The Wildcats got into the end zone one more time on a 15-yard scoring pass from Oxendine to wide receiver Brandon Allen.

Oxendine, a sophomore in his second year as a starter, completed 8 of 14 passes for 152 yards and the two TD passes.

Dillon had 14 tackles for loss, seven of them coming after it grabbed the 11-point cushion.

         Roller said he wasn’t surprised by the challenge Manning presented.

         “They have a veteran coaching staff, and we knew they'd have them ready tonight,” Roller said. “Our kids elevated their play, and I'm proud of them for that.”

         Neither team was able to score on its first two possessions of the game. The Wildcats were winning the field position battle though, and that set them up for a score on their third possession.

         Starting at its 44, a 38-yard screen pass to Fling, who had four catches for 80 yards, moved Dillon to the MHS 15. On fourth and goal from the 1, Fling got into the end zone to make it 7-0 with 1:23 left in the first quarter.

         Manning got a touchdown on the ensuing possession, using a great fake and pass from Mitchell to do so. Facing fourth and two at the Dillon 30. Mitchell took the shotgun snap and turned to his right toward the Manning sideline. He faked a pass then turn and threw it up the field to Ceasar, who had shot straight down the sideline. Both the Dillon cornerback and safety bit on the fake and Ceasar got behind both of them for the TD catch.

         The 2-point conversion attempt was no good, leaving the score at 7-6 with 10:29 left in the second quarter.

         Fling fumbled the football on the ensuing possession with Manning recovering, However, two plays later, Mitchell was intercepted by Robertson at the DHS 48. Robertson caught the ball close to the Manning sideline, raced back across the field and then to the middle of the field for a 52-yard TD return. The PAT was no good and Dillon led 13-6 with 9:19 to go in the half.

         Manning answered when Mitchell connected with Ceasar cutting across the field and taking it 58 yards for a touchdown. Mitchell then passed to running back Triston Thames for the 2-point conversion that gave the Monarchs a 14-13 lead with 7:35 remaining.

          A short Dillon punt left the Monarchs starting at their 42. They were moving toward the red zone when Ceasar fumbled following a catch with Dillon recovering at its 35.

         The Wildcats scored just before halftime, Fling crossing the goal line from four yards out with 53 seconds left to make it 19-14.

          Mitchell completed 11 of 16 passes for 160 yards and the two TD passes to Ceasar, who had four catches for 111 yards. He was hindered by a hamstring injury in the second half. Thames had five catches for 46 yards out of the backfield.

          Linebacker Lamar Hilton led the Manning defense with 10 tackles and two TFLs. Defensive lineman Jamon Brock had nine tackles and one TFL, while Coard, a noseguard, had seven tackles and two TFLs. Ceasar had four tackles and forced a fumble from his cornerback slot, while linebacker Jaylan Telford had four tackles and a fumble recovery.

         The Monarchs travel to Loris next week in a game that will definitely secure at least a second-place region finish and a home game in the first round of the playoffs and keep alive any region title hopes for the victor

“We're not going backwards from here,” Kennedy said. “We've worked our butts off to get where we're at now with our program. As a coaching staff and as a head coach, I'm not going to accept mediocre."

“We got off to a great start, we're at a big point in our season. We've got to learn how to finish. The last couple of years we kind of faded in Week 8 or 9, and we can't allow that to happen. We need to keep